Nail-strip



(N0 Mudel.)

J. R. PROUTY.

NAIL STRIP.

I No. 415,175.

ya N7 41 9 Patented Nov. 12, 1889..

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JONAS R. PROUTY, OF SPENCER, MASSACHUSETTS.

NAIL-STRIP.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 415,175, dated November 12, 1889.

V lpplication filed October 12, 1887. Serial No. 252,117. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JONAS R. PROUTY, of Spencer, in the county of "orcester and State of Massachusetts, a citizen of the United States, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Nail-Strips, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact.- description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in explaining its nature.

The object of the invention is to provide a means of feeding loose unh eaded nails to naildriving or nail-distributing devices in regular and uniform order; and the invention comprises a flexible carrier, preferably of paper, formed of two parts or sections, one of which is a straight strip or piece of suitable width, and the other of which is of corrugated form and is united by glue, paste, or cement to the side of the first-named strip at every returncurve of the corrugations, and so as to form a series of close pockets, which are open only at the top and bottom. The pockets are of a size to receive the unheaded nails the taper of the nail, in conjunction with the close fit of the pocket, holding the nail in place therein. A paper carrying-strip of this character is easily formed by cutting from the wellknown corrugated paper packing. A carryin g-strip of 'this character may be loaded with loose tapering nails by hand or directly from the nail-making machine. I prefer the latter means as being speedier and less costly, and I have invented an attachment to a machine for making wedge-shaped shoe-nails for this purpose, which will be made the subjectmatter of a separate application. The pockets of the strip are ata uniform distance apart, and the nails are held therein regularly or uniformlythat is, each bears the same relation to the straight side of the stripand the complete strip thus offers two very essential advantages. First, from its shape, being in the form of a rack and the nail being separated by a space which is uniform throughout the length of the strip, I am enabled to feed the nails, and with great precision, to the nail driving or distributing devices, and all nails bearing a given relation to the straight side of the strip enables me to present each nail to the driver and to drive it without turning it, so that the nail may have any desired arrangement in the work, and the result is very important, especially in nailing outsoles or taps in imitation of pegged work, where it is desired that the nails shall all set in the same way, or that their greatest diameter bear the same relation to the edge of the sole.

Another advantage of this nail-carrying strip arises from the fact that the strip can be used in an ordinary pegging-machine of the market to drive nails, which is a very material advantage, in that it provides an awlfeed for the boot or shoe and forms holes for the reception of the nails, which are driven with the rapidity of action characteristic of a pegging-machine.

Of course headless nails of any length may be used and the width of the strip may be varied.

In use the nails are driven from the strip by a driver, which enters one end of the nailholding pocket and is driven or passed through the pocket to free the nail therefrom, removing it through the bottom of the pocket, and for this reason the strip is useful only for feeding unheaded nails.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a view in perspective of the nail-carrying strip before the insertion of the nails. Fig. 2 is a plan view thereof. Fig. 3 is a view in perspective of the complete nail-strip. Fig. at is a view representing a strip in which the nails project above and below the carrying-strip. Fig. 5 is a plan view of the complete nail-strip.

A is the carrying-strip, and a the nailholding pockets. The strip is formed from the straight section a, of flexible material, preferably of paper, and the flexible corrugated section a also preferably of paper, and the corrugated section is united to one side of the straight section by glue or other adhesive material, and these form the pockets for the nails B, as well as a series of ribs on the side of the strip in the nature of the teeth of a rack. The pockets are closed throughout their sides and are open at the top and bottom; or, in other words, the nails are entirely inclosed, except their heads and points, and can only be removed "from the pockets by being driven or forced through them. The pockets are made .of a size to fit the nails,

and the nails may be wedge-shaped or of a uniform size throughout, but are unheaded.

A coating of mucilage, glue, or other adhesive material may be applied to the upper edge of the strip and the heads of the nails to fasten the nails'to the strip more securely. I am aware that in Patent No. 35 t,462, dated December 14, 1886, granted George WV. Copeland, assignor, there is described a tack-strip comprising a carrier having recesses extending inward from the side of the carrier, in which are held headed tacks in a manner to permit them to be fed laterally from the strip upon the bending of the strip to open the said recesses; also, that in the drawings there is shown as one means of forming the recesses a bent strip attached to a straight strip, and which bent strip forms narrow spaces, but the spaces are not adapted or intended to serve as nail-holders; and I do not claim a tack-strip having tack-holders which are open recesses upon the sides of the strip and which require the bending of the strip to enable the racks to be moved therefrom. Neither do I claim a carrier consisting, of a straight strip and a corrugated strip attached thereto to form pockets; but I do claim as an improved article of manufacture the entity which includes as one element a carrier-strip formed of a straight strip and a corrugated strip united to one side of the straight strip to form pockets open at their top and bottom only, and the other element of which is nails held in said pockets in a manner to permit of their discharge readily from the strip, and in a manner to prevent their escape laterally from the strip and to permit their being discharged vertically therefrom, the whole forming a nail-strip having a straight surface or side and a corrugated surface or side in the nature of a rack, and which permits it to be as uniformly and regularly fed as a rack could be moved or fed.

Having thus fully described my invention, I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States A nail-strip constructed of flexible material and comprising a straight back strip a and a regularly-curved corrugated strip attached to the facethereof, forming pockets closed upon their sides, open at the top and bottom, and loaded with nails, which are held in said pockets, the said strip adapted to be fed under the drivers of a nailing-machine, substantially as described.

JONAS R. PROUTY. 

